First Cape to cut 50m units of alcohol

First Cape is planning to remove 50 million units of alcohol from its wines over the next three years, says the brand's owner, Brand Phoenix.

It has pledged, under the government's Responsibility Deal, to greatly reduce the number of units. It will mean lowering the abv by 0.8% across the group's full-strength wine range - this won't include the 5.5% abv Café Collection.

Back in March, Heineken pledged to remove 100 million units from its beers by 2013, but First Cape is the first wine company to guarantee it will cut unit content.

The group is using its sponsorship of the British & Irish Lions rugby team to support the responsible drinking message. Brand Phoenix's joint founder Steve Barton said the sponsorship "couldn't come at a better time", following the recent furore over the England rugby team's drinking at the Rugby World Cup. "They [rugby teams] are hugely powerful sporting fraternities and they need to present themselves better to the public," he said. Part of the deal will see the team "embracing" the responsible drinking message "on the tour and beyond", Barton maintained.

First Cape announced the move at a varsity rugby match which took place on Wednesday, when Edinburgh faced St Andrews. The match was supported by First Cape as part of a series of initiatives, including the inaugural alcohol debate between the two universities, which will take place in early 2012.

Barton said this would "bring the debate into the hottest cauldron of all", in Scotland, where alcohol is facing restrictions on minimum pricing and promotion.

"I don't know what more brands can do to address this issue than through pledges and sponsorships like these," said Barton, adding that "there will always be detractors of the alcohol industry".

Barton told Harpers that the group's 5.5% abv range has almost entirely replaced its full-strength entry-level wines.

First Cape lined up key figures for the launch including Jeremy Beadles, the WSTA's outgoing chief executive, and Sir Ian McGeechan, head coach of the 2009 Tour to South Africa.

Café Collection brand ambassador and star of Strictly Come Dancing, Alesha Dixon, was also scheduled to attend.

• Responsibility OK